Vimal Oil to raise Rs 29 crore

Vimal Oil & Foods Ltd., an edible-oil manufacturer, plans to raise as much as Rs 29 crore ($6.5 million) by selling additional shares.

The company plans to sell 9.67 million new shares at Rs 30 per share starting March 14, the Ahmedabad-based company said in a statement today.

The founders will buy 2.5 million shares of the offer at Rs 30 per share, reducing the net public offer to 7.17 million shares.

Vimal Oil, whose shares are traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, also plans to raise Rs 6.82 crore by offering three shares for every five held by existing shareholders at Rs 25 per share.

Both offers close on March 23 and the total funds raised could be as much as Rs 35.83 crore.

Vimal Oil is raising the funds to finance a Rs 36.44 crore project to build a snack-food plant near its oil processing plant in Ahmedabad, C I Patel, chairman, said in Mumbai.

The company plans to produce potato and wheat-based snack foods under the Vimal brand from August, he said.

The company's shares rose Rs 1.95, or 5.5 per cent, to Rs 37.75 today on the Bombay Stock Exchange